Main Idea & Supporting Details Wash Publishing Co. 2009

Main Idea The main idea is the “big point” or the most important idea that the writer is communicating to the reader. Often the reader can find the main idea just by looking at the title. For example, a passage titled: “Why Students Should Have Less Homework” will include reasons for that idea. Reader’s Journey page 178 Wash Publishing Co. 2009

What’s the Point? DID THIS MAKE SENSE????? Read this short paragraph: Engineers create wealth for society. So, tennis is a game and the resources of the earth are scarce. Have you gone mad? Thus the only solution is to educate the public on being socially responsible. DID THIS MAKE SENSE?????

OF COURSE NOT!!! It didn’t have a MAIN IDEA! We would go crazy if texts were written like this all the time. It was difficult to understand because it was made of different ideas that did not link. There was no common thread. The good news is that normal passages have main ideas!

Main Idea Main Idea - is like the heart of the text or a paragraph. It is the controlling idea. All the other supporting details in the text or within a paragraph should tell us more about the main idea.

Ask Yourself…. WHO or WHAT is this passage about? Wash Publishing Co. 2009

The Topic Sentence Many paragraphs have topic sentences that indicate the main idea. Find the topic sentence in this paragraph: Homeless people have many problems. In winter, it’s hard to stay warm and it gets too hot in summer. It’s also hard to keep things safe without a home. Worst is the lack of privacy.

Supporting Details Supporting details prove the value of the main idea. What are they here? Homeless people have many problems. In winter, it’s hard to stay warm and it gets too hot in summer. It’s also hard to keep things safe without a home. Worst is the lack of privacy.

Stated and Implied Main Idea… Sometimes, a paragraph has a stated main idea usually in the topic sentence. This means the paragraph “says” what the main idea is. Sometimes, a paragraph doesn’t have a stated main idea, but has an “implied” main idea. This means that you need to state the main idea in your own words because it doesn’t actually “say” it in the paragraph. Let’s take a look at two examples…

“The students had fun on their field trip “The students had fun on their field trip. They Visited the Marine Museum. They were able to tour a tug boat and they bought souvenirs in the gift shop. After the tours they ate a picnic lunch in the park and played with their friends.” The underlined portion of the sentence is the main idea and is stated for the reader.

“The Native Americans used the trees to build their houses “The Native Americans used the trees to build their houses. They hunted and trapped animals in the forest for food. They found roots and berries that they could eat. Some plants found in the forest were used for medicine.” In this paragraph, the main idea isn’t stated. However, by reading the paragraph, the reader can determine the main idea: Native Americans used resources in the forest to survive.